A particularly harsh, and large, spate of weather has been pummeling much of the Eastern half of the country, with recent incidents affecting residents as far north as Wisconsin and Michigan and all the way down to Georgia and Alabama, even stretching westward into Texas.

On Tuesday afternoon, a man in Dale County, Alabama, near Midland City, got on a school bus, demanded a child be let off with him, then shot and killed the bus driver when he refused. The shooter, identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, then took the boy from the bus and is currently holed up with him in an underground bunker nearby.

Kimberly McCarthy, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of Dorothy Booth in 1997, will be executed by the state of Texas Tuesday night. She will be the first woman since 2010 to be put to death in the United States.

Sometimes—like when they call themselves "space conquerors" after launching a satellite that broke almost immediately and tumbled out of orbit—it can be hard to take North Korea seriously. Other times—like when they threaten another test of their nuclear program at a highly delicate time for their neighbors, politically—it seems wiser to keep a close eye on them.

On Wednesday, baseball's Hall of Fame will announce the players who comprise the 2013 class of inductees—or they will announce that no one has surpassed the 75 percent voting mark required for induction. Which would be remarkable, given that some of the greatest players ever to step on a baseball diamond are on the ballot this year. So why the uncertainty? Steroids, of course.

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